Lacto starter, no activity?

[marqoid]

I am making my first berliner weisse and have begun a lacto starter with WLP677 Lactobacillus Delbrueckii in 1 quart with a gravity of 1.045. I pitched the bacteria 3 days ago and have been holding it at ~ 75 degrees. I have essentially no activity. Is this normal for a lacto? Is there something I should try boost the bacteria?

 

[ryane]

warm them up a bit more!

 

[ChrisKennedy]

That is a lot of wort for a little bit of bugs at low temps. What does it smell like?

Also, I usually don't notice much activity in the starters from lacto.

 

[marqoid]

I warmed it up and that seemed to do the trick. Now I am getting a bubble about every minute, it smells very sour and there are small white specks developing on the surface.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Oldsock]

I had a similar issue a few days ago. I started with 1 L of apple juice with some yeast nutrient though. It took 3 days to get any activity, but a few hours after I noticed the first signs of life it was really going. Good luck on the Berliner.

 

[godofcheese]

Lacto just takes a while to get going at lower temps. Higher temps it seems to take right off.

 

[eddie]

What would you folks say is the ideal temp for a starter of this stuff? About 80F? Would you ferment the beer that hot as well?

 

[marqoid]

So my starter is now 5 days in and it is bubbling and making a very light krausen, but none of that moldly looking bacteria stuff that I have seen in other's pictures.
I can smell some sour in it, but it looks like a normal yeast fermentation.
Should I be concerned? How do I get more funk?

 

[ryane]

lacto dont produce much funk, if you want funk you need brett

also, the funky looking things have probably been pellicles, they look that way because of oxidative yeasts and other types of bacteria, not because of the lacto

 

[marqoid]

So apparently my starter was just fine. I pitched it yesterday and have vigorous fermentation today. This went into a berlinerweiss that had OG of 1.030. Most people have waited three days before pitching sach yeast, but I am concerned that fermentation will be nearly complete by then. Should I wait to pitch the sach. yeast? I've never read of anyone making a beer that was too sour; Would there be any problem with just letting it complete as a 100% lacto fermented beer?

 

[godofcheese]

Now, I may be wrong here but I was under the assumption that Lactobacillus only creates lactic acid. If you want it to have any sort of alcohol in it, you will need yeast as well.

 

[gallagherman]

Would there be any problem with just letting it complete as a 100% lacto fermented beer?

Yes there is a problem with that. Using 100% lacto won't make beer, you need yeast to make beer. You'll just make some weird lacto-processed wort. They'll be no alcohol, because they utilize lactic acid fermentation and not ethanol fermentation, that's why they make lactic acid and therefore sour flavors.

 

[SumnerH]

Now, I may be wrong here but I was under the assumption that Lactobacillus only creates lactic acid. If you want it to have any sort of alcohol in it, you will need yeast as well.

That's right for this case. In general, it depends on the species of lactobacillus--most are heterofermentative and do produce alcohol. But L. delbrueckii does not.

 

[Gritsak]

Bringing this back up...what should a lacto starter smell/taste like? I've got one that's been going for about a two weeks total (started with 500ml, stepped up to 2000ml) that smells and tastes almost like apple juice. I used DME to get a SG of ~1.035-.040. Temps have been at least in the 90's--its in a closet with my hot water heater.

 

[ChrisKennedy]

Apple juice is right in line with my experiences with lacto starters.